Wings of Gold
by LadyCara
Summary: Their ways didn't part until doomsday happened. Divided by what some people referred to as the Void, others as Hell or The Howling, two people dreamed. Set in an AU where Nine didn't regenerate but Doomsday happened.
1. Chapter 1

Their ways didn't part until doomsday happened. Divided by what some people referred to as the Void, others as Hell or The Howling, two people dreamed.

~o~o~o~

Rose Tyler stood on a crowded street in London, observing two very familiar persons. "I want chips," a blonde girl said, and a tall man in a black leather jacket smiled. "Me, too."

"That was the moment I began to fall in love with you," a dark voice with a Mancunian accent whispered in her ear. She could feel his breath grazing her skin, his arms around her, holding her close. She leant back into the embrace and watched their younger selves on their way to Rose's favourite chippy. She was silent for a long time.

"I don't remember the exact moment," she admitted eventually. "It started sometime between the moment you told me you could feel the turn of the Earth and 'I could save the world but lose you'." She turned in his arms and faced him. "But I knew that I loved you, that I was in love with you, when the reaper took you." She ghosted a kiss over his lips and blinked.

~o~o~o~

They were sitting on a rock in the highlands, Rose next to him, their feet dangling in the air. At some distance they could see two people coming nearer. They looked as if they were having a brilliant time, joking and laughing at Queen Victoria's expense. The Doctor wondered if they had been as happy then as he was now. What was happening at the moment proved something to be true he had wished for but hadn't dared to believe.

_She stood on a windswept beach, utterly oblivious to the elements, only concerned about him. "Promise me that you'll find someone to travel with. Promise me."_

"_Oh, Rose." He didn't care if his desperation showed. He still wondered why she had chosen him, the killer of his own kind. She could have done so much better. But he had given her his hearts and just this once he wouldn't be a coward. She didn't deserve anything less than the truth. And so he told her, with as much conviction as he could muster. "I love you. You are my life and my soul. You saved my life in more ways than you can imagine. Will you bond with me?"_

"_But..."_

"_We're gonna see each other again," he told her fiercely. "I know it. One day, we're gonna see each other again. Y... someone told me, eighteen months ago. I love you. So will you bond with me?" he repeated._

_Rose wiped her eyes. "I..." _

She had agreed, even though she hadn't been able to finish her sentence, and now the first tendrils of the bond were slowly forming. Although the Void separated them physically it could not constrain their minds. If they were very, very lucky they might be able to share a few more moments like this. "You still owe me ten quid," Rose said, apropos of nothing, interrupting his musings.

"No money," he said with a smirk.

"Still a cheap date, then," she grinned back.

"But you love me anyway."

"That I do," she replied, pecking him on the lips.

"Let me see if I can make it up to you," he said. He took her hands. "Close your eyes." She obliged and he concentrated for a moment. "And now open them again."

~o~o~o~

She was aboard a small sailing boat, barely big enough for the two of them, gliding over a windswept ocean. In front of her was a building set on stilts, circled by seagulls. The Doctor swiftly hauled in the sails and their momentum slowed down. They docked directly under the ladder that led to the platform and the building. "Dame Rose?" he asked and took her hand.

"Sir Doctor." She got up and curtsied. For the first time she noticed that she was wearing a black dress held up by thin straps, with a skirt that ended about six inches above her knees and a small velvet bow at the waist. "Probably not the best choice of clothes to climb a ladder," she noted.

"But at least you are wearing sensible shoes," he gave back with a merry twinkle in his eyes.

A quick glance at her feet told Rose that he was right. She was wearing deck shoes.

"And since when exactly do you know how to sail?" she asked, probably sounding a bit disbelievingly.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Well, your piloting skills could definitely use some brushing up. Good thing you're better at sailing or we might be repeating the voyage of the Golden Hind right now," she grinned. "Which reminds me: Where are we?"

He positioned himself under her, holding the ladder stringers. "Brighton. The planet, not the city. There are several of these pavilions built directly at the rim of the continental shelf, about three miles from the shore and about two miles from each other. People rent them for honeymoons or lazy summer holidays. We're completely alone here." His voice was like silk and sent shivers down her spine.

He didn't even touch her, although the hem of her skirt grazed the arms of his leather jacket while she climbed the ladder, but she could almost physically feel his gaze and the thought of what was to come did strange things to her insides. She glanced down over her shoulder, the mild breeze blowing long strands of her hair in her face. He looked like the cat that was about to get the cream. Well, that game could be played by two, she decided.

"Don't tell me you actually made a reservation," she said drily, while she tucked a few of the errant strands behind her ear. Not that they would stay there for long.

The Doctor blinked twice before he managed to answer her question. At least she wasn't the only person around that was slightly distracted. "Not even the President of the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire could come here without a reservation."

"No slightly psychic paper, then?"

"Nope."

Eventually Rose reached the platform and heard the Doctor climb the ladder. She bent down, opened the laces of her deck shoes and removed them. With impeccable timing she straightened just as he arrived at the platform, giving him an unimpeded view of her bum. A sharp intake of breath told her that he liked what he saw.

She could feel every little unevenness in the warm, wooden planks under her bare feet when she turned around to face him. With two long steps he stood in front of her, cupped her face with his large hands and kissed her leisurely, as if he had all the time in the entire universe. He explored her mouth thoroughly and she melted against him. She'd almost forgotten how easily he could turn her into jelly. Her left arm slid under the hem of his jumper of its own volition, caressing the smooth muscles on his back, while she slung the right around his neck to steady herself. After some time she drew away to catch her breath and discovered that since the moment they had started kissing their surroundings had changed. The sight took her breath away. "Oh, that's gorgeous!" At her exclamation the Doctor turned and took her hand.

The sun was about to set, the fiery ball only just touching the horizon. The ocean reflected the light in myriads of shades ranging from gold to crimson and the white walls of the pavilion looked almost pink, while the blue of the sky had been completely replaced with vivid orange. For the first time this planet looked truly alien.

"It was called Gallifrey, my planet," a voice she barely recognised said next to her. "It was beautiful. The Shining World of the Seven Systems, they called it. The Citadel of the Time Lords stood in the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, protected by a mighty glass dome that mirrored the twin suns and the burnt orange sky. The mountains were covered by large forests of trees with silvery leaves. When the second sun rose in the south and they reflected the light they looked like they were on fire and when a breeze blew through the branches you could almost imagine they were singing. It was like the sound of time, the sound of the always changing forever."

They stood transfixed until the sun vanished and the orange slowly turned dark blue and then black, all the time holding hands.

~o~o~o~

"Let's go inside," the Doctor suggested eventually. He led her to the other side of the building and opened the door. Rose took three steps into the pavilion and took in her surroundings while the Doctor quickly lit the bundle of kindling wood in the fireplace. In the middle of the room a table was set for two persons, with exquisite china, crystal glasses, silver cutlery and white candles.

"A proper dinner? Like, a date?" she asked, sounding only somewhat incredulous.

"Well, I said I'd make it up to you, didn't I?" He lit the candles on the table and returned to her.

"At least there aren't any roses on the table," she said with a cheeky smile. "That would have been too much cliché."

"Are you saying this is domestic, Rose Tyler?" He sounded as if he was mortally offended, but for all his grumbling about domestics she knew he secretly craved them. He would never decorate the galley with a 'Home, Sweet Home' embroidery or buy her a Christmas present, and the only jewellery he'd ever given her was the thin gold chain for her TARDIS key, but she had seen the relaxed look on his face when he argued with Mickey about football and the feeling of contentment he tried to hide whenever he took her to an alien bazaar so she could go shopping. Hell, he even put up with her mum for her, but seeing this was just... She didn't even have the words. She desperately wanted to hug him, but opted for teasing instead, her tongue poking through her teeth. "Maybe a bit."

He laughed and pecked her on the nose. "Oh, I love you."

She slung her arms around his waist and looked him in the eyes. "I love you, too." Then she reached up and pulled him down for a languid kiss.

After a bit of nibbling at his lower lip he opened his mouth and her tongue glided inside, slowly caressing his, seeking out every corner of his mouth. After a while he moved the kiss to her mouth, sliding against her tongue, stroking it with increasing passion. He ran his tongue along her teeth and over the roof of her mouth, only to resume its previous dance with hers. She sighed against him and he pulled her closer, his growing desire evident against her hip. Eventually he pulled away to let her catch her breath and stared at her with a hunger in his eyes that had absolutely nothing to do with food and everything with her feeling like prey under the scrutiny of a falcon. Never one to step back from a challenge, she met his gaze evenly, letting her own desire for him show.

His lips crashed down on hers and with three large steps he walked her back to the door, kicking it shut in the process and pinned her against the wood, all the time kissing her as if he would drown if he had to let her go. She could feel her knickers getting damper by the second. She wiggled a bit until she managed to get her arm between their bodies and stroked him through his jeans. He groaned.

With what looked like a great effort of will he finally stepped back. If she'd been a block of chocolate she would have been molten under the intensity of his gaze. "I'd love to take you right here, Rose, against the door, your dress pulled up to your waist, your legs around me. I wouldn't even bother to remove your knickers." More heat pooled in her belly and she could feel a twinge of anticipation between her legs. She was already ridiculously wet.

Apparently not oblivious to what he was doing to her the Doctor resumed his verbal torment. "Oh, I know you're ready for me, Rose, I can smell it." He smirked and continued, "I'd enter you and set a rhythm, agonisingly slow, and drive into you until you forgot your own name. You'd whimper and beg that I let you come." A soft moan escaped her and he chuckled. "But I'd deny you release, Rose. I'd suck at your pulse point until I'd leave a mark to tell everybody that you belong to me, that you're _mine_, and even then I'd never stop pounding into you." His tone was indescribably sensuous.

Rose swallowed hard. She'd almost forgotten to breathe. If he kept this up he would manage to _talk_ her into orgasm. Her knickers were completely drenched and all he had done was kiss her senseless and tell her what he would like to do to her. She slowly moved her hand, desperate to lift her skirt, to touch herself, not caring that he was staring at her. She needed some friction against her throbbing clit. With a swift move the Doctor stopped her and held her hands over her head in a vicelike grip, his body nearly covering hers, his erection pressing into her stomach. He definitely wasn't unaffected by the tension lingering between them. "No. You're not touching yourself until I say so." She felt like a butterfly pinned on a corkboard and nodded slowly, the commanding tone of his voice an incredible turn on. If he toyed with her like that much longer she would probably incinerate.

He released her arms and stepped back once again, giving her one of those looks that made her feel like a goddess and a newborn kitten at the same time. She met his gaze and decided that turnabout was fair play. "I'd open your zip ever so slowly," she began. "I'd stroke you through your pants until you couldn't bear the friction any longer and begged me to remove them. After I'd got rid of your clothes I'd kneel down in front of you. My breath would ghost over your cock but the only part of me that touched you would be my hair."

He hadn't moved since she'd begun to speak, captivated by the sound of her voice. She could see that he was digging his nails into his palms, trying not to make a sound. The pictures she was creating in her mind didn't help her state of arousal one bit, but she managed to keep her voice from wavering. "Then I'd take you into my mouth, caressing you with my tongue, finally sucking on you until the only thing you cared about was what I would do next."

His pupils were dilated and he wasn't able to stifle a groan. "Rose..."

She ignored him and went on, "Every once in a while I'd scrape along your cock with my teeth, so gently that you wouldn't even be sure I was touching you at all. Then I'd release you and would lick my way down to the base, cradle your balls in my hands and play with them until you begged me to..."

She could see the very moment he relented. His eyes narrowed and with two quick steps the Doctor was standing right in front of her, his left hand fumbling with the fly of his jeans, his right tangled in her hair, cradling her head against the wooden door while he assaulted her mouth with his tongue. Another wave of heat flashed through her and pooled in her centre. She hadn't thought she could get any more aroused, but he proved her wrong.

Her hands joined his and within seconds they freed his straining erection from its confinements. She began to stroke him, using the liquid at the tip of his penis to lubricate her hand. He pulled her dress up, pushed her knickers aside and entered her first with one, then with two fingers, setting a steady rhythm, stretching her. She moaned, clutched his shoulder with her left to steady herself and realised only now that he was still wearing his leather jacket.

He released her mouth, dropped to a knee and sucked at her left nipple. The friction of her dress and the lace of her bra against the sensitised bud, in combination with his fingers still moving slowly in and out, in and out, drove her further and further towards the precipice. She reached for the hand that had cradled her head at first and was now caressing her other breast. She took the index finger in her mouth, swirled her tongue around it and finally sucked. A growl escaped his throat. Rose released the digit and ran her fingers through his close-cropped hair, slightly scraping his skin with her fingernails. He almost purred and she nearly lost her footing at the sensations the vibration caused on her nipple.

"Doctor, please..." she moaned. He still hadn't touched her clit and she was aching for contact, for friction, anything. She tried to writhe a bit, so her knickers would rub against the little bundle of nerves, but he immediately removed his fingers from her entrance. She nearly sobbed at the loss.

He released her breast and got up again, licking his fingers clean. "You are not to touch yourself until I say so," he repeated his earlier command, his eyes piercing her. Rose shivered. She was so turned on, she almost couldn't bear the tension any longer. Then he kissed her, his straining erection pressing into her body, but still not anywhere near where she needed it. She could taste herself on his lips. "What do you want, Rose?" he asked, his voice tense as if he was clinging to the last shreds of his self-control as well.

"You. Just you," she told him earnestly.

~o~o~o~

It was the absolute honesty of her statement and the unconditional love in her eyes that broke him. The Doctor raised her body. She wrapped her legs around his waist and clutched his shoulders. With the hand that didn't prevent her head from banging into the wood of the door he guided his cock to her entrance. He entered her in one powerful thrust and she moaned. He paused for a moment to give her time to adjust, then he began to drive into her, slow at first but with increasing speed and force.

"Doctor, please."

With sheer force of will he stilled his movements and looked her in the eyes. "What, Rose?" He knew exactly what she wanted and he knew he would probably have to pay for making her beg, but he didn't care. He simply couldn't resist. More specifically, he couldn't resist _her_, hadn't been able to for a long time. Sometimes he wondered why he'd even tried to fight it for so long.

"Let me touch myself, please."

"Anything you want, Rose," he replied and began to pound into her again, harder and faster than before, while seeking out her mouth for a passionate kiss. She wriggled her arm between their bodies and began to rub her clit in time with his strokes. He abandoned her mouth, which elicited a moan from Rose. His lips trailed down her neck and he tasted her sweaty skin. He kissed her pulse point and rested his lips there for a moment before he began to suck and nibble. She shuddered and he increased his efforts. Eventually he was certain he would leave a mark and soothed it with his tongue, then licked his way up to her earlobe and followed the curve of the shell. Finally he sensed that she was close and his movements grew more erratic. "Come for me, Rose," he whispered, then bit her earlobe lightly.

Suddenly she was clenching around him, nearly deafening him with her scream. In all his lives he had never seen anything as beautiful as Rose Tyler coming undone in his arms. It took him only a few more thrusts and white light exploded behind his eyelids. He emptied himself into her, panting heavily, barely able to stand upright, while she clung to him and caressed his head.

"I love you, Doctor," she murmured and collapsed against him, unable to move a single limb. He had to admit that his own condition was not much better. He took a few staggering steps towards the small regency style sofa in the corner next to the fireplace where he deposited her lovingly and straightened her clothes. Then he readjusted his own garments and sat down on the floor, leaning against the seat cushion, holding her hand. "You know, I had plans for the evening," he said eventually.

"You and a plan? Tell me more," she mocked him.

"Oi! I do plan things. Well, sometimes," he clarified, "but only if it's worth the effort. Anyway, I would have made dinner."

"Dinner? Really?"

"Rose, you know that I can cook, I just choose not to," he replied in a mock offended tone. "And I thought you would have remembered the crème brûlée." She unconsciously licked her lips. He grinned and leaned over to kiss her.

"And what would have happened then?" she asked breathlessly after he had released her.

"We would have eaten, of course." That gained him a swat against his shoulder.

"And what exactly stops us from doing just that now?"

The Doctor laughed. "Are you trying to tell me that you're hungry?"

She grinned mischievously. "Well, all these physical activities burn a lot of energy..."


	2. Chapter 2

A bit of exploring revealed which door led to the kitchen, and Rose discovered a bedroom with an en suite. She used the loo and went in search of the Doctor. He had retreated to the kitchen and was currently searching for something in the depths of his leather jacket. Eventually he retrieved an apron and donned it, keeping his back firmly to Rose, although she certainly didn't miss the fact that the tips of his ears had turned into a rather lovely shade of pink. Eventually he turned around and Rose discovered the 'Kiss the Doc' embroidery.

"Let me guess. The apron is Jack's fault," she commented drily.

The Doctor grinned. "Remember Ionidas Prime where he got you that 'Kiss the cook' apron?"

"Yeah. He gave you a package but wouldn't tell me what he found for you." She laughed. "Well, at least yours doesn't have any frills. That would kind of ruin the mood," she added, mischief sparkling in her eyes.

He looked at her questioningly and she elaborated, "A man who can actually cook is sexy as hell."

"Is that so?" The suggestive tone in his voice made her knees go weak. Again.

"Oh, definitely."

"Then let's hope that I live up to your expectations." He smirked and opened the fridge. The empty fridge. The very empty fridge that contained nothing but a bowl full of ice cubes.

Seeing his incredulous expression, Rose desperately tried to hold back a giggle, failed miserably and eventually collapsed into laughter. She leant against the counter until she was able to breathe again. The Doctor looked mortally offended. "I'm sorry. It's just... You should have seen your face."

Eventually a grin crept up on his face and he acknowledged the absurdity of the situation. "You know that you're going to pay for that, don't you?"

Rose grinned back. "Nah, I'd say we're even." She pecked him on the lips. "Honestly, I don't care about the supper. We could have gone to the chippy again or you could have bought me that beef milkshake from Satellite Five. I don't care as long as I'm with you. I know this," her gesture indicated that she was talking not only about the pavilion, "is a fantasy that can't last but I'd like to pretend as long as possible."

~o~o~o~

She had figured it out. A concept that should be completely foreign to her and she had figured it out. The Doctor stared at her in awe. Then he kicked the fridge shut with the heel of his boot and took her hand. He led her back to the main room and activated the old-fashioned wind-up gramophone on the small table next to the sofa. The first notes of the Moonlight Serenade filled the room.

"Would the lady like to dance?"

"How did you pull this off?" she asked, her hands moving to his neck.

He held her at the waist, his right caressing her back, and they swayed to the music for some time, her head resting against his shoulder, before he answered. "It's not really a fantasy, more like a dream we're sharing, and it is only possible because you agreed to bond with me. Before Darlig Ulv Stranden all I could do was send a message through the Void, and that only worked because the cracks hadn't closed yet." He paused for a moment. "I think the TARDIS somehow fuels it."

"The TARDIS?"

"Yes. And believe me, I had nothing to do with it. I wouldn't even have asked. I thought she'd downright refuse. It's not easy to get a TARDIS to do something she doesn't want to. You could force her, of course, but she'd fight you every step of the way, and probably beyond. And my frankly magnificent time ship is definitely the most stubborn being in the entire universe, including the combined forces of you, me and your mum." He grinned. "Sometimes I still wonder how I made it off that junkyard, let alone Gallifrey. She really must like me."

"Oh, she does," Rose said. Her reply sounded as if it was coming from a great distance and her eyes seemed to be staring into a reality only she could perceive. Then she smiled at him lovingly. The Doctor winced inwardly. He had the nagging feeling that Bad Wolf wasn't done with them yet, but he ignored it for the moment and smiled back.

"Anyway, since the moment she agreed to me as her pilot we've been sharing a bond. Mind you, not like the bond that's developing between us, but still a direct mental connection." He thought for a moment, then he decided to voice his suspicions. "Although you might even have a more powerful connection with her than I could ever imagine."

"Me? Why me? I'm not even telepathic."

He looked at her, sighing inwardly. She would find out anyway, sooner or later, and sooner was probably for the better. Being jeopardy-friendly and a telepath was not exactly a safe combination if she ever came across a bunch of not-so-well-meaning telepathic aliens unprepared. And it might even spare him the slap he was bound to receive if he didn't tell her, she discovered it on her own, _and_ found out that he knew all along. "You might very well be telepathic now. You looked into her heart, Rose, and I don't think we've discovered every single change caused by that."

"So basically you're saying that because you and I share a connection with each other and with the TARDIS she was able to bridge the Void somehow. But why now?"

"A real bonding is very rare, has been for centuries, millennia even. It's a process that takes some time, although it would develop much faster if we were together. A full bond can only be achieved through close physical contact over a period of time."

She grinned.

He grinned back. "Not necessarily sex, Rose, although I certainly wouldn't mind. And before you ask, metaphysical sex doesn't count."

Rose narrowed her eyes.

Seeing her expression, the Doctor hastily corrected himself. "As corporeal contact, of course. The sex itself was fantastic. Anyway, without being physically close all we can achieve is this. Otherwise we would be able to be _in_ each other's minds, experience what the other one is feeling, share our thoughts."

He should probably have explained this sooner, he realised. Given how she had reacted to the TARDIS translating for her she might not bear this well. "I can still undo it if you want me to," he offered tentatively.

"Don't you dare!"

This time her expression told him that he was about to find out how much metaphysical slaps stung if he stuck to this line of thought. "I was just thinking... I didn't even explain properly before I asked, and that's just not fair to you," he said carefully.

She smiled. "I love you, Doctor. Of course I would have said yes. But don't try to change the topic."

"I'm not. Well, it took some time for the bond to develop enough that this would work, and both of us have to be asleep..." He cut himself off before he could say more.

"Don't tell me. You've tried to avoid sleep until you collapsed."

She'd always been able to see through his armour, right from the beginning. He nodded. "I thought the nightmares about the Time War had been terrible, but now... Whenever I close my eyes all I see is you, falling into the Void, but there is no Pete to catch you..." He trailed off and stared at a point at the wall.

"Doctor, look at me." He returned his gaze to her and she cupped his face with her hands. "I'm here and I'm safe. It's just a dream."

He nodded slowly.

"But I still don't understand how this didn't happen earlier."

"Like I said. For once we managed to be asleep at the same time and..."

"For the first time in almost half a year?" she interrupted him, staring at him suspiciously. "You can't tell me that you managed to avoid sleep for six months."

He stilled completely and noticed only now that the record had run out minutes ago. "Half a year? Six months?" He knew he sounded like a parrot, but he couldn't help himself. It had only been a few weeks since Darlig Ulv Stranden for him.

"Five months, two weeks and six days," she clarified.

He wanted to smack himself. He'd completely forgotten about the time difference. And he still didn't have any idea how that phenomenon could possibly exist. He had to do something to get her back. Soon.

"Doctor? How long has it been for you?"

"Four weeks," he admitted finally. She stared at him with a horrified expression. He understood. He'd let her down, and he didn't have the slightest idea how to do something about it. If he didn't find a way to cross the Void soon she'd... He didn't even want to think about it. He opened his mouth to apologise, but her next words startled him.

"You've tried to avoid sleeping for _four_ weeks? Are you mad?"

"Rose..."

She freed herself from his arms and took a step back. "Don't _Rose_ me! You have to sleep properly, you know that. I don't want to lose you just because you're exhausted and get yourself killed! Not to mention that I like this body." Her eyes blazed with anger and she sounded as if him regenerating would be a personal affront. At her offended tone he chuckled involuntarily and eventually broke into laughter while Rose stared at him as if she suspected he'd lost it.

Finally he recovered enough to say something, still a silly grin on his face. "Here we are, dancing in a pavilion built on the rim of the continental shelf on Brighton that only exists in our minds, I'm waiting for you to yell at me because I left you for more than six months in a parallel universe and haven't figured out yet how to get you back, and then you yell at me because I might regenerate due to lack of _sleep_? Oh, I love you."

~o~o~o~

The anger vanished as quickly as it had come. He had thought she'd yell at him for _not_ endangering two universes just to get her back? She had known it would be difficult, he had told her as much on Darlig Ulv Stranden, and if what was happening right now was all she could ever get she'd happily accept the unexpected gift and not ask for more. But the whole not sleeping thing... The dreams he'd had about the Time War had been horrible, he'd let slip enough for her to know that, but now she was the cause of even worse nightmares? He wouldn't even have told her if she hadn't figured it out on her own. Oh, Doctor...

"Come here," she said and embraced him. His arms came around her and she found herself in an almost bone-crushing hug. Neither of them moved for a long time. The Doctor seemed to be unable to let her go. Not that she wanted him to. She hadn't even been aware of how much she needed one of his patented 'The Doctor and Rose against the rest of the universe' hugs.

"I miss you so much," Rose admitted finally. He was the only person she would ever tell how much exactly. "Not even the time travel, just you. The running for our lives, the silly grin that doesn't get used enough, the hugs, the hand-holding. Just... you being you." Her voice quavered and she tried to tell herself that she was blinking rapidly only because she had a lash in her eye. Yeah, right. She had quickly learnt to put up a facade for the world, the heiress or the Torchwood employee, and most of the time even the people who knew her best didn't have any idea how she really felt.

"I promise I'll do everything in my power to get you back," he whispered.

She smiled at him, not caring about the tears standing in her eyes. "Only if you also promise not to be reckless and to sleep properly, or I'll regenerate you myself when I see you next time," she teased.

"And I thought you liked this body," he commented drily.

"Well, I do like this body, complete with goofy smile, piercing blue eyes and big ears. Not to forget the very nice bum."

"I'm not sure if I can believe that after that threat." The suggestiveness in his voice sent a shiver down her spine.

"Want me to prove it?" she grinned, her tongue peeking through her teeth. She pulled him down for a languid kiss. Her tongue slid into his mouth, gently caressing his, while her hands worked on his leather jacket. Finally she managed to push it over his shoulders and it landed on the floor with an audible thud.

His arms came around her, his large hands resting on the small of her back, and he began to respond to her kiss passionately. Eventually she pulled back to catch her breath and smiled at him. "Do you know that there is a bedroom with an extremely comfy bed behind one of these doors?"

"Rose Tyler, what exactly is going on in that mind of yours?"

"Well, there's only one way for you to find out."

He grinned expectantly. "Fantastic."


	3. Chapter 3

Rose took his hand and led the Doctor into the bedroom. It was surprisingly huge, and taking into account the spacious main room it almost seemed as if the pavilion was bigger on the inside. The floor was made of smooth wooden planks that felt warm under her bare feet. The entire room was held in warm colours, contrasted by the bed, which was covered with white sheets.

The Doctor pulled her into his arms and kissed her almost chastely at first, but with increasing intensity. His tongue begged for entrance and she opened her lips to let him in. As she had done with him, he took his time exploring her mouth and rediscovered all the spots that made her moan.

Never breaking the kiss he pulled her tighter, as if he wanted to mould them into a single being. Her hands glided under his jumper, relearning the naked skin on his back. Then she decided that he was definitely far too clothed for what she had in mind, so she tugged at his jumper and broke the kiss just long enough to remove the garment.

She ran her hands over his smooth pectoral muscles, slung her arms around his neck, and this time she kissed him, first running her tongue lightly along his lips, then entering his mouth and stroking his tongue slowly. She could feel his growing erection against her stomach.

Sometimes she still couldn't believe that he loved her, had asked her to bond with him. He was the most powerful being in the universe and he had chosen an ordinary shop girl from a council estate on a backwater planet named Earth. He could have done so much better. Whenever she lay awake at night she wondered when he would finally realise that and leave her behind.

In the first light of the morning she would banish these thoughts and put them back into the darkest corner of her mind, then she would gather her courage and face the day, to fulfil the promise she had made to herself, to do what he wanted her to do. Have a fantastic life. The Doctor was the one who had shown her how to do this, shown her a better way to live her life, to _live_. If there was anything she could do to make their separation easier for him, to give him something to hold onto, to drive the nightmares away, she would do it. She wanted him to lose control, to be completely himself in these short few hours fate had granted them.

She slowly bit his lip, gently at first, then with increasing force. He pushed into her involuntarily and she moaned. A split second later his hands were on her back, touching the zip of her dress, about to pull it down. She wanted to give in to the temptation, wanted to feel him inside her, bringing her to completion, but she resisted. There was something she wanted to do first.

"No. Not yet. Would you..." She hesitated for a moment. "Would you let me pleasure you first?" She blushed violently.

He gave her a smile that nearly broke her heart and cupped her cheeks with his large hands. "I told you before, Rose. Anything you want."

~o~o~o~

He had known Rose had something in mind when she had led him into the bedroom and he was going to let her do whatever she wanted. He was hers until the end of the universe and beyond. Sometimes he still wondered how that had happened.

She had a tendency to wander off, she was too jeopardy-friendly for her own good, and he certainly could have done without frequently visiting her harpy of mother. But somehow the beautiful woman in front of him had dragged him back from the brink of madness, had managed to distract him with brilliant smiles and life-saving hugs, and somewhere along the road she had stolen his hearts, mind and soul, piece by piece. Not that he had fought it.

Her fingers traced circular patterns on his arms and his torso, slowly closing in on his nipples, arousing them to taut buds, grazing them with her fingernails. Her lips found his pulse point and she sucked and nibbled until he was certain it would leave a mark. He made no move to stop her. He was hers and she had every right to claim him, as he had done before. Then she bit him.

He hissed sharply, thrust against her, and realised that she had moved her hand and was now cupping his erection. He felt her warm fingers through the fabric of his jeans and couldn't suppress a moan. When he noticed her smug smile he decided that there would be payback. Very sweet payback.

"Rose."

"Yes, Doctor?" She smiled sweetly and began to move her hand.

The little minx. She knew exactly what she was doing to him. He drew her to him and kissed her hard, trapping her hand between their bodies. The feel of her warmth against him made him want to throw her on the bed and have his way with her until she begged for mercy. He fought the urge, but he knew he was losing the battle. Quickly. Her strokes became faster and his jeans now were _really_ uncomfortably tight. He bit back another moan.

"Rose, let me..." He lost track of his thoughts when she ran her thumb over his nipple.

"Later. I promise." She smiled and peppered his jaw with kisses.

Suddenly she took a step back and her hand was gone. He groaned in frustration. She grinned mischievously, knelt down, opened the laces of his boots and removed them quickly. With nimble fingers Rose undid his fly, her fingers lightly tracing the straining bulge in his pants, then pulled his jeans down. When she got up again, she writhed against him deliberately, her arms slung around his neck, her tongue tracing the curve of his ear.

The Doctor groaned and pushed against her still frustratingly clothed body. Then her hand was back, rhythmically stroking him through his underwear. The last shreds of his self-restraint slowly dissolved into thin air.

"This is torture," he hissed.

"I know," she gave back.

"Then stop," he demanded.

"Why?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Because I want to make love to you."

She grinned like the little devil she was. "I suppose you can hold out a bit longer, superior physiology and all that." She scraped a fingernail over one of his nipples and he groaned almost ferally.

Eventually she freed his aching erection from his pants. He almost sighed in relief and stepped out of the garments pooling at his feet. She ran her fingers along his shaft, lubricating her hand with the fluid she found on the tip. She began to stroke him again, ever so slowly increasing force and speed while she kissed him passionately. He wouldn't have thought he could get any harder, but she proved him wrong.

She ran her thumb lightly over the tip of his penis and circled it. He hissed sharply. "Rose!"

"You have no idea how much I want to have you inside me," she told him. "How much I want you to shag me senseless. But not yet."

She knelt down and trailed along his shaft with her wet tongue, licking every inch until there wasn't a part of him she hadn't caressed. Then she blew on him, before she engulfed his erection with her warm mouth and began to suck.

His time sense fled him.

~o~o~o~

From his position he had a fantastic view of her cleavage, highlighted by the low-cut neckline of her dress. He hated the black piece of fabric with a passion that surprised him. All he wanted to do was to rip it off her body and bury himself in her. He was close to coming, had been even before she had taken him into her mouth. His erection was almost painfully hard. He balled his hands and dug his fingernails into his skin, trying to get some semblance of sanity back.

"Rose, no," he managed to grunt out. "Let me be inside you."

She grinned impishly around him and sucked harder, this time taking his balls into her hands and massaging them lightly. Despite his determination not to get off in her mouth he couldn't stop himself from thrusting into her. His need to be inside her when he came and his pride warred with each other, and his pride lost. "Please, Rose. I need to..."

When she released him with a soft 'pop' it came as a surprise. She rested back on her heels, her fingers trailing along his inner thighs, and looked at him serenely, almost expectantly.

Gripping her at her arms the Doctor yanked her to her feet. When he crashed his lips against hers in an almost bruising kiss, he could taste himself on her. He bit her lower lip, although not quite hard enough to draw blood, and her body became pliant in his arms. Her soft moans were nearly his undoing, but he somehow managed to hold back from taking her right then.

"You know you're going to pay for this?" he growled when he had finally regained a small fraction of his self control.

She raised her eyebrows provocatively and licked her lips. "Oh, really?"

He smirked almost cruelly. Before he took her he would wipe that expression of smugness from her face. Thoroughly. He took a deep breath to calm down a bit. This was going to take some time.

"Turn around and close your eyes." Rose obeyed, now standing with her back to him. He discovered a piece of crimson silk on the nightstand and retrieved it, barely able to walk. He suppressed another moan. "You," he observed, "are overdressed."

"Then do something about it," she challenged.

"Oh, I will." His voice was full of dark promises.

He carefully brushed her hair aside and revealed the nape of her neck, planting a feather light kiss just beneath the hairline. Then he covered her eyes with the scrap of fabric. "That alright?"

"Yeah."

The Doctor sucked at her right earlobe and trailed the curve of her shoulder with his fingertips until he reached the strap of her dress, while his left hand caressed her breast. He followed the line of the fabric, slightly grazing her flesh with his fingernails until he reached the zip. His mouth abandoned her earlobe and he scraped along her spine with his teeth, every once in a while soothing the skin with his tongue, while he pulled down the zip of her dress, inch by inch. He could feel her shiver under his ministrations.

~o~o~o~

Rose shivered in anticipation, already losing track of time, and shifted in her damp knickers. She was certain he would make her beg long before this was over, but seeing him lose control had definitely been worth it. She desperately wanted to feel him inside her, filling her, completing her. But she had started this game, and now she had to bear the consequences. She didn't even think of not letting him do what he wanted. She trusted him implicitly, always had, always would.

Abruptly the Doctor stepped back, abandoning her body completely. "I know you're wet for me, Rose," he growled. "Your scent is driving me crazy. But turnabout is fair play, don't you think?"

Suddenly she felt his fingers tingling over her skin. He pushed the straps of her dress over her shoulders, and the garment slid along her body and pooled at her feet. He began to caress her arms, her breasts, the lace of her bra, creating delicious sensations against her hot skin. The only parts of him that touched her were his hands, although she could sense the heat radiating from his body. This was her only indication where he might be. She felt as if a panther was stalking her, inaudibly moving in the dark, ready to strike.

He stood behind her and unclasped her bra, and her breasts fell free. She could hear a few quick steps, and then he was in front of her and circled her nipples with calloused fingers, arousing them to taut buds. Suddenly he pulled lightly and she moaned. This was the most sensual experience of her entire life.

Time skipped.

Slowly she realised that the Doctor was caressing her calves now, drawing circular patterns on her skin with his fingertips. She would never have thought that this could be so arousing.

"Too bad you aren't wearing stockings today," he murmured. She could feel his breath ghosting over the damp patch of her knickers and shivered again. He had to be kneeling in front of her. She could imagine him, gloriously naked and aroused, his bum resting on his heels. More heat pooled in her centre.

"Your fantasy," she managed, nearly incoherent from the sensations he was creating. She wouldn't be able to move a single limb if her life depended on it.

"Shared dream," he corrected absently, his attention elsewhere.

His hands moved upwards and she shifted lightly when he reached the back of her knee. He ignored it and now she could feel his fingers stroking the sensitive flesh of her inner thighs. Just before he reached the seam of her knickers, he stilled completely and breathed her in. She moaned in unadulterated need, yearning for him to touch her.

His fingers pressed against her entrance, only the thin scrap of satin preventing him from penetrating her. The strain on the fabric finally provided some friction against her throbbing clit but it wasn't enough. She was rapidly losing her grip on sanity. Then he removed his fingers and she whimpered. Not long now, and he would have reduced her to a quivering mass of want.

Time skipped again.

Suddenly the Doctor rubbed her clitoris through the fabric of her knickers and simultaneously sucked at her nipple. The unexpected friction was almost too much to bear. When he gently bit the bud her knees began to buckle. She barely managed to hold herself upright. She was so close, she almost sobbed from the effort it took her not to surrender to the sensations he was creating. She didn't want to. Not like this. She bit her lip deliberately, used the pain to concentrate. She knew she'd start begging very soon. "I want you inside me when I come," she told him.

"Oh, you're not coming. Not yet." The way he phrased his words made it sound as if it had never even been in question. He was smirking again, she could hear it. Then, finally, he removed her knickers. She could feel him entering her with a long finger, setting a steady rhythm. She whimpered, almost sobbed. She needed more than this, needed to touch him, needed him inside her.

Then he was gone again, his entire presence vanished from her perception. "Doctor? Please..." She knew she sounded almost desperate. She might be going mad, right here, right now. Wherever and whenever that was.

He took her completely by surprise when he scooped her up, his erection pressing deliciously against her hip, deposited her on a soft surface and removed the blindfold.

~o~o~o~

Time returned to its normal flow. Rose found herself on the bed, the Doctor hovering over her, supporting himself on his right hand, and then he kissed her forcefully, his tongue invading her mouth, gliding against hers in a sensual dance. She moaned and reached for him, desperate to touch him. Her hands slid over his back and drew him nearer.

"Make love to me," she said when he finally released her, her voice somewhere between a demand and a plea.

He aligned their bodies and with one infinitely slow thrust he entered her, filling her completely. She moaned and arched into him. He moved leisurely, pulled back until only the tip of his penis was sheathed within her then pushed into her again in a fluid motion. Her arousal began to build even higher than before. She ran her hands over his back, her feet caressing his calves, urging him on, but he kept the rhythm steady. He seemed inclined to drive her insane with need.

Time lost its meaning once again. Her perception reduced to the feeling of him moving inside her, driving her higher and higher. He slowly began to stroke her clit with his index finger, in time with his thrusts. She closed her eyes, the sensations almost too much to bear.

"Doctor, please..." She was wound up so tightly, she might very well go mad.

"Look at me, Rose." His voice was barely louder than a whisper, but she heard him. She opened her eyes and sanity returned to her for a few brief moments.

"I love you," she said, almost matter-of-factly, as if she was stating an unshakable truth.

He returned her gaze, and she felt like eternity was staring back at her. "I love you," he declared. The force behind his words would hold entire universes together.

She shivered, and he pushed back into her warmth while he pressed her clit. She had been hovering on the edge for so long she hadn't even realised how close she was until this powerful thrust sent her over the precipice. Her mind scattered into a million pieces. For an immeasurable amount of time conscious thought abandoned her.

Eventually she felt on the edge of her awareness that the Doctor was still moving inside her while she was clenching around him. She reached up and ran her fingers through his close-cropped hair, caressing his scalp.

"Come for me, my love," she told him, sounding almost reverent.

His eyes never leaving hers the Doctor thrust into her one more time and emptied himself into her body. Then he collapsed atop of her, his penis still buried in her body, his weight a welcome reassurance of his presence. She gently traced the angles of his face. She had never seen him so at peace, so content before, as if the demons that were haunting him had left him for the moment. If only she could make this last.

After a long time he eventually slipped out of her, rolled over and engulfed her in his arms, his fingers lightly tracing the lines of her body. She snuggled against him, kissed him softly and let out a contented sigh. She could spend the rest of her life like this. Neither of them spoke, as if they were afraid to break the spell.

Finally the Doctor broke the silence. "Tell me about your life." He began to play with a strand of her hair.

Her life. On Darlig Ulv Stranden she had promised to herself that she would not let desperation claim her and she would not go home, watch the telly, have beans on toast and wait for time to pass. That was not who she had become and she would not go back to being that sort of person.

"Well, thanks to a shortage in alien invasions in the last six months I managed to get my A-levels," she said eventually, a tiny smile on her face. It wasn't exactly saving the universe, but it still was something she had achieved on her own, something to be proud of. "Even one in physics, of all things. You won't believe it, but the gravitational constant is minimally different in Pete's world."

~o~o~o~

The Doctor stared at her, surprise and pride shining in his eyes in equal measure.

"What? Did you think I never listened when you and Jack talked about science?" Rose caught her tongue between her teeth. "All the time I spent on the jump seat pretending to read a magazine while I stared at your bum and listened to your technobabble, and you never noticed?"

"Oi! That was a highly scientific exchange of vital information."

"Looked more like a pissing contest, from my perspective."

He was wounded. "Time Lords don't have pissing contests." Not to forget that they never sulked. And he _had_ noticed. Thus the pissing contest. Oh, he really wasn't the least bit hypocritical, was he?

"Don't worry, you won," she soothed. "Anyway, I didn't pass in history."

"You travel through time and you fail history?" he asked incredulously.

She laughed. "Well, it's a little bit problematic if history turns out to have happened differently in another universe. Napoleon never returned from Elba, there was a war in the nineteen-twenties between Castile and France on one, and the UK, or better, the PRGB on the other side, and the London Blitz never happened, while one of Queen Victoria's sons founded Torchwood, shortly before they abolished the monarchy."

"That's probably a valid reason," he allowed, slightly mollified.

She opened her mouth and he asked quickly, "And what else have you been up to?"

He knew she had wanted to ask what he had been doing. Rose already worried about him enough as it was. No need to add to that by telling her what his life without her was like, that he felt as if he was stuck in a dark tunnel without being able to see the light at the end. She let it go, although he was fairly certain he wasn't off the hook yet.

"Hmmm, let me think. As I said, there was a certain lack of alien invasions in the last couple of months, mostly tourists instead, so not much running for my life. Well, if you don't count my mum trying to hook me up with two or three pretty society boys and me running like hell from them." As soon as she had finished the sentence she winced and bit her lip. Clearly she hadn't wanted to tell him this.

"She what?" His eyes narrowed dangerously and a green monster raised its ugly head.

"Shhh. Nothing happened. I was way too fast for them," she told him with a forced grin, cupped his cheeks and kissed him softly. The monster slowly calmed down again.

"It was partly my own fault," she admitted finally. "It took me almost a month to tell mum that you had asked me to bond with you. She had been nagging me, told me to get on with my life, meet a nice bloke and have some fun, and I just blurted it out. You can imagine how the rest of the conversation went." She shrugged in feigned nonchalance. "At the next Vitex party she began introducing the most boring people I've ever met, and that includes the bureaucrats from Noia Five. She only stopped because I threatened I'd never talk to her again." She gave him a wry grin. "At least Mickey thought it was funny."

"Oh, Rose... I didn't think."

"Doctor, I walked into this with my eyes wide open. I knew what could happen." She smiled shakily and continued in a very see-through attempt to change the subject, "So apart from running from boring society people and persuading alien tourists that we had birds for Christmas dinner, not people, I had a bit of time to think and I came up with a couple of questions."

The Doctor winced inwardly. This was his fault. All of it. She was stuck in a parallel universe, her mum was being, well, Jackie, and now Rose was bottling up her emotions. He silently promised that he would fix this. He didn't know how, not yet, but he would do everything he could to get her back.

He smiled and kissed her. "What questions?" If she could let it go for the moment, he could, too.

"Well, for instance, did you ever wonder how the dimension jumpers worked in the first place?"

No, he hadn't. And he could smack himself for that. He was sensing a trend.

"A couple of months ago Mickey hacked into the archive and stole the plans. I don't know how much time I spent down in Archives studying them, but I found out that they only worked because there had already been cracks in the walls between dimensions," Rose said. "We know what caused the breach in our universe, or at least why it got bigger, but what about this one? From what I remember the Cyberleader said they had nothing to do with it. I dunno, but they don't seem to be the most imaginative lot. I'm tempted to believe him."

"And Daleks don't have the capacity for trans-dimensional travel, which means the cracks must have been caused by something else," the Doctor continued her line of thought.

"And I've been wondering... You said the breach on your side would seal itself after the Void had sucked the Cybermen and the Daleks in. This is possibly a stupid question, but what about the cracks on my side? Would they have closed, too? All of them?"

His eyes lit up at the potential implications. "Rose, you're fantastic! Absolutely brilliant!" He kissed her thoroughly while the very small part of his brain that wasn't occupied with the woman wrapped around his body was already working its way through several scenarios.

And then she did something with her hips that made him drop every line of thought that was not related to repaying her in kind.

~o~o~o~

"Did you find someone?"

He stared at her incredulously. "We're in bed and you ask me if I travel with somebody?"

Rose planted a kiss on his chest and smiled. "Well, it's not as if I had anything to worry about. You're _mine_." He definitely wasn't the only person in this relationship who was slightly possessive.

"Yes, I did. Find someone, that is. Reminds me of Jackie, actually."

"We're in bed and you bring up my mum?" She swatted his shoulder. Her playful tone told him that she had forgiven her mum, although he wasn't sure he could do the same. Truth be told, he wasn't sure he wanted to.

He rubbed his arm. "Ouch! See? That's exactly why she reminds me of your mum."

"She slaps?" When he didn't answer Rose started to laugh. "Oh, I think I'd like her."

He should have anticipated that reaction.

"So what did you do to her that you deserved a slap?"

"Who said I deserved it?" he gave back, decidedly not sounding like a petulant three-year-old. Time Lords were never petulant. And they _definitely_ never sulked. Yeah, right.

"I know you," she sing-songed.

That she did. Only too well, sometimes. "I told her she couldn't bring her hat box."

The scowl he wore while he made this statement regularly caused despots throughout the universe to give up their nefarious plans and hide in fear, but his tiny human lover collapsed into laughter. "Let me guess: She brought it anyway. Poor Doctor, a hat box is certainly the height of domesticity!"

"It is!" There was only one person in the entire universe, no, make that multi-verse, he might consider doing something remotely like domestic for and said person was currently in his bed, even if the bed existed only in their minds, and only as long as the TARDIS would be able to fuel the connection. "Tell me you don't own a hat box," he demanded.

"And what would you do if I said I did?" she asked with a smirk then laughed at his horrified expression and kissed him. "Nope, you're safe. Come on, it could be worse. Pets, pretty boys, Jack..."

"We're in bed and you bring up _Jack_? _Again_?"

"Well, it's not as if you had anything to worry about. I'm yours."

For the remainder of the night the Doctor made love to Rose Tyler, proving to her exactly whom she belonged to and whom he belonged to, until they fell asleep in each other's arms.

~o~o~o~

In a universe that felt even more inane now than it had been directly after the Time War, the Doctor woke up from a dream. Time for a trip to Cardiff, he decided. He owed someone an explanation and an apology. And if he was very, very lucky he might not only actually survive the encounter, but also get access to the CCTV footage of the battle of Canary Wharf and a few answers to the valid questions Rose had asked. He showered, donned his clothes and left his room, yelling for his current companion.

"Donna?"

_Fin._


End file.
